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The Miami cHeat turned the basketball world on its head with their cavorting public appearance prior to last season, after signing Bosh and LeBron James in the off-season to add to their current superstar, Dwayne Wade.

Here's a nauseating reminder of the goings on:

Now, with the acquisitions - in order - of STAT, Melo and Tyson Chandler, the Knicks have adhered to Miami's blueprint for success: hedging their bets on 3 individuals, and paying top dollar to do so.

The Heat have already been voted on RealGm.com, as heavy favorites to take home Larry O'brien this year, and no doubt are touted by many in the know as the team to beat this season. Before they attempt to garner the NBA's one common goal, they'll have to take care of their Eastern conference counterparts.

The Chicago Bulls can lay claim to Eastern supremacy, as well. After an amazing season behind MVP, Derrick Rose, and an ECF loss to Miami, the Bulls will be ready. They are one or two good trades away from being a powerhouse in every sense of the word.

Here's a look back at the season that was, and the anticipation for the season to be for the Chicago Bulls.

The Orlando Magic

After losing in an upset in 6 games to the Hawks last season, the Magic seem poised to do, well, not a lot. After using amnesty on Arenas and re-signing J-Rich and trading Bass for Big Baby Davis, the Magic still are in need of system tweaks.

Regardless of this blaring fact, they still have D12, and will remain in the East's elite because of it. Looks very much like they'll be keeping him on board at least for this season, too.

Having the league's best center and 3 times and counting DPOY is a big +, but Orlando, after a myriad of poor signings and bad contracts, have little to trade for, and not a lot of room to add to their mediocre supporting cast.

Boston Celdics.

They're old, haggard and irritating beyond recall, but the Celts with their veteran big 3 and Rondo will still be lingering around spots 4 and 5. I have nothing else to say about them except this: Rondo is their glue. They dangled him in front of the league for CP3, but, as is the standard with the NBA, they declined on post CBA principal. Will that rattle Rondo's cage? If it does, look for an implosion in Boston.

I ****ing HATE the Celtics. A plague on them all.

Atlanta Hawks

Perennial contenders for a second round exit, the Hawks have seen better days: Crawford is out, Josh Smith still voicing his desire to be traded, Joe Johnson's ridiculous contract. They have signed T Mac, though, and will again be amongst the top 8.

I really don't expect much from Atlanta this year. Bar the influence of an outbreak by Al Horford, the Hawks will begin their descent in to the lower end of the top 9 teams this year, IMO.

SO LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS, GENTS.

I would love to know what people on here are thinking about the East, as the distance between seeds 1-4 and 5-8 are so immense, what will become of the Knicks?

Let's keep our counterparts under UAV surveillance: trades, trends, stats, injuries, news and so forth - bring it here and we'll keep a watchful eye on opponent teams in the scramble for best seeding come playoff time. This hectic schedule will be jam packed with highs and lows for every team, and will make for interesting analysis.

☆ If it's alright with everyone, I'd like to keep an eye on our Eastern rivals in this thread, and keep up to date with the conference as so many games this year will be against conference foes.

MIA's WWE-style celebration clip makes me want to beat them almost as bad as the Celtics.

I see the Bostonion Cripples and Magic below us at this point moving forward.

In theory, the Bulls should keep improving based off their cap, age, and how poor Boozer was last year. But, while blasphemy, I'm not completely sold that D-Rose will be better this year at all, and I actually am sorta expecting a drop-off.

Style wise....Knicks vs Bulls would produce a playoff classic.

MIA, sadly, is a clear favorite and has the potential to be too ruthless; though, I believe our players and SSOL potential could produce an upset even if MIA is clicking.

But MIA having Miller/Haslem healthy, plus Battier and whomever else they may sign for PG help is going to be absolutely ferocious.

With the acquisition of Tyson I think that moves us up to 3rd in the East just behind the Bulls. If we can solidify our backcourt with another veteran, Fields progresses or a player like Iman overachieves we can surpass them and possibly the Heat.

I only give the edge to the Bulls because they have played together for a whole year, have an MVP and a great coach but on paper I like where our roster is and where it's going. 1999 part duex and beyond!

With the acquisition of Tyson I think that moves us up to 3rd in the East just behind the Bulls. If we can solidify our backcourt with another veteran, Fields progresses or a player like Iman overachieves we can surpass them and possibly the Heat.

I only give the edge to the Bulls because they have played together for a whole year, have an MVP and a great coach but on paper I like where our roster is and where it's going. 1999 part duex and beyond!

Agreed. 3rd or 4th in the east. We have the most dominant front court in the NBA and I think Douglas is fine as our starting PG. Fields style of play (1st half of last season) is good enough. We don't need a lights out player at SG. If he continues to do the little things (hustle plays, rebound, etc.) and can hit the 3 consistently, then we're fine at SG.

The only reason I say possibly 4th in the east is our bench (currently) is quite possibly the worst in the NBA. Bibby, Jeffries, Walker and Shumpert are not going to cut it. We need depth to push us to the top. Hopefully we can sign Shawne Williams and another bench player soon.

Thanks for replying fellas. Good to see the big guns have swooped in early.:smoking:

So it looks like we've all come to terms with the cHeat being poised for dominance. They are literally one front-court piece away from being filthy good. Did anyone catch that they'd signed Eddy Curry? Fat turd

Gotta agree with this post:

Originally Posted by LJ4ptplay

Agreed. 3rd or 4th in the east. We have the most dominant front court in the NBA and I think Douglas is fine as our starting PG. Fields style of play (1st half of last season) is good enough. We don't need a lights out player at SG. If he continues to do the little things (hustle plays, rebound, etc.) and can hit the 3 consistently, then we're fine at SG.

The only reason I say possibly 4th in the east is our bench (currently) is quite possibly the worst in the NBA. Bibby, Jeffries, Walker and Shumpert are not going to cut it. We need depth to push us to the top. Hopefully we can sign Shawne Williams and another bench player soon.

Our bench is a concern. I seriously doubt Shawne Williams will return after we scrooged him with $980K, and we're relying on rookies as role players on a D'Antoni team.

I don't know how that's going to pan out.

3rd seed is an absolute likelihood, but we'll need to find continuity quickly, and with enough assuredness to be clicking at the right times, and not fall in to those system slumps, as I like to call them, in which a good defensive team is stifling our spacing and we revert to isolation plays.

We're poised to make some noise, that is for sure.

- A lot relies on Douglas and Fields, IMO. We'll need effort and efficiency from those 2 young bloods. I'm backing my man, Landry Fields, to bring it this year.

- Our back up centers will have to learn quickly from TC. Jorts has been talking his face off all off-season, and seems to have established some kind of common opinion that he's the next Laimbeer. :roll eyes: Jordan, I've no doubt, will outplay Jorts and have him handing out gatorades by the end of week one.

- I doubt Bibby will be doing much at all.

- Shumpert is the dark horse. If he's as good as he seems, our second unit will be that much better off.

Bibby
Shump
Walker
Jefferies
Jordan

Big question marks here are: what will the second unit bring? Will we actually play a full second unit for the first time in 3 years with any consistency?

3 or 4 seems about right, but i think we can take the bulls or heat in the playoffs.The bulls can't score, and until the "Frozen One" proves he isn't distracted by his moms, or girl friend getting smashed by everyone, I think we'll be fine.

3 or 4 seems about right, but i think we can take the bulls or heat in the playoffs.The bulls can't score, and until the "Frozen One" proves he isn't distracted by his moms, or girl friend getting smashed by everyone, I think we'll be fine.

2. No, don't be ridiculous. About a normal 7 guys will rotate and consume most of the minutes, unless of course it's a blowout.

What happened to the Pacers?

Nice thread.

With MIA and CHI being the top defensive teams (BOS not far behind), we need this to happen if were going to contend.
[FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="3"]

1A. Through the incorporation of every player and coach, we must achieve the same if not better offensive results we did last year.

Simple.

Playing a second unit was wishful thinking, not that we boast a good one, on my behalf.

I was going to incorporate the Pacers in the thread, maybe even the Bucks: Bogut needs to be on form for that to happen - Stephen Jax was a good pick up. The Pacers have done exceedingly well for themselves this off-season, probably better than any other team. Did they manage to get Mayo? I saw that the Lakers picked up McRoberts on the MMLE.

Our offense is going to be very, very intriguing this year.

TC runs a very solid P&R game, so the onus is on Douglas to reciprocate there. Will Melo and Chandler play a 2 man game off the pick? I'd like to see that. Melo is a better passer than he's given credit for, and there are not many players in the league that can bully their way through to the paint like he can off the dribble, especially if he's provided the opportunity.

If this happens, I would expect Melo to lead the league in scoring, or at least be close: 28-29PPG.

IMO, STAT is a bit of a question mark. He'll no doubt get the ball on the 45 where he does most of his damage from, but where will that leave the other 4 players - 3 if you exclude Chandler? Tyson has no offense - not that he need be a threat with Amar'e and Melo on the block and 45, but he has good hands and attacks the rim - hard. He can get his points off a 2 man game, as I say, but I don't see that being a focal in D'Antoni's motion sets. We'll see.

Nene just re-signed with the Nuggets. This is important for a couple of reasons mainly because the Nets were chasing him hard. So now they don't have a star C and they really don't have a lot to offer for Dwight Howard. Hopefully this means NJ will stay irrelevant for at least the next year or two so we're not competing with them in Brooklyn.